


six, sixteen, twenty-six

by avalonjoan



Series: Henrietta: without magic, with medical careers [3]
Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Carnival, F/M, Gay Awakening, Honesty, Hook-Up, Kavinsky is nice, M/M, Married Couple, No Smut, No cheating, Self-Discovery, Sexual Experimentation, gay realization, no infidelity, there's no good tag for that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:41:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27152605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avalonjoan/pseuds/avalonjoan
Summary: “We’re gay, Gansey!” As he threw his arms in the air, Ronan realized that he was making a scene but couldn’t stop. “This is what we do! We talk about our gay awakenings and all the things we did that we thought was normal straight guy stuff!”Eyes wide, Gansey froze. “Was I...your gay awakening?”Ronan’s heart dropped. “What? No. I just meant—”--Ronan, Adam, Blue, and Gansey go to the county fair and discover that they have a mutual not-quite-friend. Some revelations about the group's adolescence are brought to light. Gansey gets a fancy cocktail while everyone else gets cheap beer.
Relationships: Richard Gansey III/Blue Sargent, Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish
Series: Henrietta: without magic, with medical careers [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1971451
Comments: 14
Kudos: 153





	six, sixteen, twenty-six

**Author's Note:**

> y'all are really into the nice asshole ambulance partner Kavinsky, so he's back and causing a ruckus!

The county fair was one of the things that Ronan had missed the most about Henrietta. There wasn’t anything like it in Boston; the local amusement park in New Hampshire was the closest thing they had, with rides that felt like they would spin his brains out, but it didn’t have the same feeling. He missed the performances by bands that really shouldn’t be touring anymore (weren’t most of the Beach Boys dead?) and the 4H kids showing off their quilting projects and the tractor pulls under the floodlights after the sun went down. Of course, there were the parts that couldn’t ever be replicated--his mother consoling him when he was too small to go on a ride with Declan, his father whispering how to go up on his toes just enough to make the height requirement on the next one. It was an enormous secret for a six-year-old to keep, and he revealed the trick to the ride operator after being declared him a full forty-eight inches.

He’d brought Adam with him the first day, always eager to show him the things he’d missed out on as a child. They started with the basics: the ferris wheel, a two-foot-long bag of kettle corn, holding the baby chicks in the farm animal section. Ronan braved the Zipper and the nauseating sensation of falling it gave him; he didn’t want to miss Adam’s grinning and whoops of laughter. At night, they bought glow stick necklaces and lay in the grass by the main stage after the music finished. Adam fell asleep with his head on Ronan’s chest, and when the fair closed at eleven, let himself be led sleepily back to the car with blades of grass stuck to his legs.

A few days later, they returned with Blue and Gansey and did it all over again. They were standing in the midst of the games section, figuring out where to go next--Adam wanted to go on the ride that spun you around until you stuck to the wall, Blue wanted deep-fried Oreos, Gansey was horrified by both--when Ronan saw a familiar face approaching.

“Hey!” He stepped away from the group to greet Kavinsky, bumping fists with him. “What’s up, man? Good to see you.”

It was always weird to see coworkers out of uniform. Kavinsky looked like a normal person--band t-shirt, jeans, white-framed sunglasses tucked into his collar. He held a small stuffed alien under one arm. “Lynch!” he replied with a smile. “I’m here with my sister and her boyfriend, but they’re off making out on the ferris wheel so I’m just fucking around until they’re done. You here with Adam?”

Ronan jerked his head toward his friends and started leading Kavinsky over to them. “Yeah, and some friends from high school.” Once he was back in the circle, he derailed the current conversation to do introductions. “Guys, this is my work partner Kavinsky. K, this is—”

Gansey, in an icy tone that Ronan seldom heard, uttered, “Joseph.”

“Dick.” Kavinsky sounded almost out of breath, like he’d just been hit in the chest.

“You two know each other?”

“We did.” The way Gansey gritted his jaw made it clear that he was not about to elaborate.

Kavinsky looked in every direction except for Blue and Gansey. “I’m, uh,” he stammered, “I gotta go find my sister. Catch you later, Lynch.” He turned and disappeared into the crowd as suddenly as he had shown up.

After the silence had persisted for an uncomfortable amount of time, Ronan looked between his two friends. “Are you gonna explain what the fuck just happened?”

Blue looked at Gansey, who shrugged, and then she shrugged in return. “It’s your story.”

Opening his mouth to speak, Gansey faltered for a moment, and when he spoke, his voice was barely audible over the sounds of the carnival around them. “A few years ago...I was maybe twenty-six--I wanted to try something--” he paused, clearly searching for the right word, “--different. My lovely, supportive, empowered partner—” Blue rolled her eyes at this, but didn’t interrupt, “--helped me find someone, and that’s how we met Joseph.”

“Long story short,” Blue took over, her patience with the whole situation clearly wearing thin, “Joseph dicked Gansey down and then ghosted us.”

Adam, who had been quietly observing up to this point, started coughing, having apparently inhaled a large amount of the powdered sugar on the fried dough he’d been eating. Putting a hand on his back, Ronan looked at Adam long enough to determine that he wasn’t actually choking before saying, “So let me get this straight. You were looking for the gay experience and _didn’t_ call us?”

Gansey looked apologetic. “This is a...different kind of intimacy than what you do with a friend.”

“Oh, come on, man.” Ronan gave a forcible exhale and went on, “We blew each other in tenth grade, remember?”

“You what?” Blue looked at Gansey.

“You didn’t tell her?” Ronan looked at Gansey.

“You told him?” Gansey looked at Adam.

“We’re gay, Gansey!” As he threw his arms in the air, Ronan realized that he was making a scene but couldn’t stop. “This is what we do! We talk about our gay awakenings and all the things we did that we thought was normal straight guy stuff!”

Eyes wide, Gansey froze. “Was I...your gay awakening?”

Ronan’s heart dropped. “What? No. I just meant—”

Holding up his hands, palms forward toward the group, Adam spoke for the first time. “Guys. Could we maybe do this somewhere else? Preferably with alcohol?”

“Yeah,” Ronan said, eager to not address what he’d let slip, “Somewhere that isn’t filled with memories of my childhood.”

It was, quite possibly, the most awkward silence that they had ever experienced as they rode to the bar. Gansey had turned on the radio when they got in, but Blue shut it off after a few minutes. Ronan squeezed Adam’s hand, feeling truly anxious for once, and grateful that he and Adam had decided long ago that secrets weren’t an option for them. With everything they’d grown up with--Ronan’s loss and Adam’s terror--they needed honesty, security. It hadn’t occurred to him that what happened between him and Gansey might not have been his story to tell.

Once they found a table, tucked away in the back corner where they could hear, Ronan stayed standing and took everyone’s orders before going to the bar. While we waited for their drinks--a pitcher of Bud Light (this was not the time for craft beers) plus an old fashioned for Gansey (because of course)--he took out his phone and texted Kavinsky.

 **_Dude  
_ ** **_I gotta ask  
_ ** **_How was it?  
_ ** **_I wanted to fuck him like, SO BAD when i was 16_ **

**Lynch..  
** **I know better than to kiss and tell ;)**  
**I will say that he’s a great guy and we had a good time**  
**but he's not the kin** **d of guy you can casually fuck, you know?  
I knew I was gonna catch feelings so I bailed** **  
** **I probably should have said something  
** **But I didn’t because I’m a piece of shit**

There was a hand on Ronan’s shoulder, and he whirled around to see Adam looking at him disapprovingly. “Don’t.”

“I’m not—”

“Yes, you are. Leave it alone.”

Ronan sighed. Adam was right. He wasn’t sure why he was digging--it wouldn’t change anything. Was he trying to live some teenage fantasy vicariously through Kavinsky? More than anything, Adam deserved better. Plus, it would be easier to deal with whatever conversation he was going to have with Gansey without adding whatever Kavinsky might say. “You’re right. Sorry. Let me just finish up and I’ll stop."

 **_Okay I take it back. I don’t want to know.  
_ ** **_But like, can I tell them that you had good-ish intentions_ **

**I guess  
** **I didn’t trust myself not to hurt him or Blue  
Which I guess I did anyway  
******

**_You know, you’re not such a piece of shit after all_ **

**oh I am**

******_Haha_**  
**_Also  
_ _Please try not to fuck any more of my friends_**

**Mmm I’ll try but no promises ;)**

Putting his phone back in his pocket just as their drinks arrived, Ronan turned back to Adam, who had been politely looking away during the text exchange. “All set.” He picked up the pitcher in one hand and Gansey’s drink in the other and started toward their table. “This is gonna be weird.”

“Eh. He was kind of my gay awakening, too. I’m just smart enough not to say anything.”

“Oh, come on!” Ronan pleaded, “Help me out here.”

Adam grinned. “And boost his ego that much more? No, thank you.”

“Oh, God.” Ronan took a deep breath and blew it out of pursed lips. “He’d probably put it on his fucking resume. ‘Detail-oriented team player. Hot enough as a sixteen-year-old to make his best friends gay. Proficient in Microsoft Excel.’”

This time, Adam let out a full-on laugh. “I think it was the hair.”

Taking care not to spill anything, Ronan bumped his hip against Adam’s. “Glad that you’ve got a different type now,” he teased. Gansey and Blue came into view, and things felt a little more back to normal--his arm was around her, their hands enmeshed on the table in front of them. While they were still out of earshot, Ronan leaned closer to Adam and whispered, “It was definitely the hair.”


End file.
